Alutiiq Word of the Week: LaundryIqa’iat - Laundry (plural) Nukallpiat iqa’ineq pingaktaan’tat. - Men don’t like to do laundry. The Alutiiq word for laundry comes from the word for dirt, iqaq, and literally means “dirties.” Anyone with a family knows that laundry is a never-ending chore, but in the days before modern washers and dryers, it was an exhausting, daylong project. Alutiiq women remember carrying water and lighting fires in their woodbu...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: Berry PickingNunaquluni; Alagnarsurluni - Berry Picking Kiagmi nunaqutaartukut alagnanek. - In the summer we go berry picking for salmonberries. Collecting from the land remains a popular activity in Alutiiq communities. Spring greens, berries, shellfish, medicinal herbs, and driftwood are among the resources that Alutiiqs gather from the mountains, meadows, and shores of Kodiak Island. The Alutiiq language reflects the import...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: PhotographPatreitaq (n); Patriitaq (S) - Photograph Patriitairnga. - Take a picture of me. The world’s first photographs were taken in the 1830s, when French scientist Louis Daguerre captured images on copperplates treated with silver and mercury. Twenty years later, in the 1850s, photography became popular in the United States with the invention of a less-expensive process that fixed images to glass or tin. As Americans sp...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: JumperAq’alarluni - Jumper (as in a salmon) Aq’alartut iluani. - There are jumpers inside (the seine). Jumping salmon are a conspicuous sign of summer around Kodiak. Scan the surface of the ocean in June and you will see pink salmon hurling themselves out of the water as they head for their spawning grounds. Jumping is an adaptation that helps salmon clear obstacles as they move upstream. As fish near freshwater they be...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: RunQecengluni - Run Uswiillraraat cecengtaartut. - Kids are always running around. In classical Alutiiq society, runners passed important news from one village to the next. Elders recall young men running along the beach to carry messages to neighboring communities. When they arrived, a fresh runner would take the message to the next village, and in this way information would travel up the coast from community to com...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: OrcaArlluk - Orca; Killer Whale Arllut kuimartut imarmi. - Orcas are swimming in the ocean. The orca or killer whale (Orcinus orca) is the largest member of the dolphin family. These large, toothed sea mammals are aggressive hunters known for their feeding habits. In addition to fish and squid, killer whales will eat other whales, sea lions, seals, and even birds. Adult orcas grow to between twenty-three and twenty-se...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: LaptuukLaptuuk : Baseball Kiagmi laptuugtaartukut. : We play baseball in the summertime. In classical Alutiiq society, community gatherings were an opportunity for games, particularly those played outdoors. Both men and women enjoyed participating in athletic challenges, including everything from swimming, boating and running races to wrestling, high jumping, target throwing and team sports. Competitions were a way to sh...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: BarrelPuuc’kaaq : Barrel Puuc’kaat saRayami et’ut. : The barrels are in the shed. The Alutiiq word for barrel — puuc’kaaq — comes from the Russian word bochka, also meaning barrel. This link reflects the use of barrels for bulk storage on sailing ships in the early historic era. Russian traders imported grain, beads, and many other commodities to Alaska in wood barrels. Assembled from wooden staves bound with a series o...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: BaitNarya’aq : Bait Iqsaka naryaaliaqa. : I baited my hook. We often think of bait as something fishermen use on hooks to catch fish or in pots to lure crabs, but Alutiiq hunters once used bait to capture birds. In Prince William Sound, hunters placed sinew nooses on the surface of the water, filled the centers with tempting pieces of crushed clam, and then made gull noises to attract diving birds. A quick tug on the ...

Alutiiq Word of the Week: GoldSuulutaaq : Gold Kulutka suulutanek canamauq. : My ring is made of gold. The bedrock underlying the Kodiak Archipelago formed about seventy million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Geologists believe that Kodiak’s slates and greywackes developed on the South Pacific sea floor before rafting north on the earth’s crust to their current location. During this process, deposits of quartz were literally squi...